Toronto's 'Crack Mayor': It's Time to Get Help

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is taking a leave of absence after three videos, peddled by a drug dealer, purportedly showed him smoking crack cocaine, The Globe and Mail reported.

The dealer is asking "at least six figures" for the clips which he secretly filmed early in the morning over the weekend in the home of the mayor's sister and in the presence of his former chauffeur, according to the newspaper.

The mayor's sister, Kathy, has told media outlets that she has been addicted to narcotics. The chauffeur, Alessandro Lisi, has faced charges of drug dealing.

The mayor's lawyer said Ford, now waging a re-election campaign, would seek help for his substance abuse problem. Less than a year ago, another drug dealer tried to hawk his own video of the mayor supposedly smoking crack. A theme in Ford's re-election bid has been the need for forgiveness and second chances, the Globe reported.

Ford, who turns 45 this month, is married and the father of two. He has admitted to heavy drinking while insisting that he is not a drug addict.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun made public a recording in which the mayor can be heard cursing and speaking threateningly at a Toronto bar.

A bar patron described the mayor as inebriated, the Sun reported. "He was really wasted."

In the audio, Ford makes vulgar sexual references about his mayoral opponent, city councillor Karen Stintz. Ford also swore while complaining that he was under pressure to fly the gay pride rainbow flag at City Hall.

Stintz said she hoped the sentiments expressed in the audio tape did not reflect Ford's true attitude toward her as a colleague. "I wish him luck getting the help that he needs," she said. "I think it is good for him, for his family, I think it's a very good decision," according to the Sun.

Ford, a conservative, has been mayor since 2010 when he won a three-way race with 47 percent of the vote. After the earlier crack incident the city council transferred some of his authority to the deputy mayor. There is no provision in the law to remove him from office, the BBC reported.